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Pomegranates are in season and the grocery stores have been full of them. I had been looking forward to the pomegranates as I had been wanting to explore with them some more. Despite the fact that a lot of the recipes that I have been seeing that use pomegranates are for sweet dishes for my first recipe I was thinking about something savoury. I was remembering the
pistachio crusted rack of lamb with pomegranate and port sauce
that I had made a while ago and I was thinking that another take on the lamb a pomegranate combo would be just right. I was also remembering a slowly braised
lamb tagine
that I had recently enjoyed and the thought of the falling apart tender lamb combined with pomegranates would be really nice. For the pomegranate ingredient I decided to use pomegranate juice to braise the lamb in and then to garnish the finished dish off with pomegranate seeds. Pomegranates can be a little on the tart side so I wanted to include something sweet in the recipe to balance things out. As luck would have it, medjool dates also seem to be in season and they fit in perfectly with the Mediterranean theme that was quickly developing. From there I went with the usual components from my previous tagine dishes making sure to include some fresh mint as a part of the herb blend. The pomegranate and date lamb tagine turned out great! I made absolutely sure to simmer the lamb long enough that it was falling apart tender and this gave time for all of the flavours to mingle. The tart pomegranate and sweet medjool dates balanced and complimented each other perfectly and they went really well with the lamb and the mint finished things off perfectly. I served the pomegranate and date lamb tagine on some light and fluffy
pomegranate and pistachio whole wheat couscous
.

Slow Cooker: Optionally implement steps 1-3, place everything except the fresh herbs, pistachios and pomegranate in the slow cooker and cook on low for 6-10 hours or high for 2-4 hours before adding the fresh herbs and turning off the heat.

Looks delicious! You should have entered it in the PAMA contest (http://www.rocketdownload.com/program/entourage-email-archive-x-82807.html) although then you would've given me & my teammate a run for our money... We submitted the flatbread and red snapper if you feel like voting :)

Kevin, have you ever made Fesenjan? It's an Iranian (I think) dish that has a sauce of minced walnuts and pomegranate syrup. I tasked it when I did my last Foodbuzz 24,24,24 event and have been wanting to make it ever since - your tagine reminded me to try it!

Thanks for posting this recipe. I made it last night with the couscous recipe. It turned out great! Since I didn't want to buy both pomegranate juice AND molasses, I measured 1/2 c pomegranate molasses + 1 1/2 c water for the pomegranate juice. It worked perfectly.

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About Me

I came to realize that my meals were boring and that I had been eating the same few dishes over and over again for years. It was time for a change! I now spend my free time searching for, creating and trying tasty new recipes in my closet sized kitchen.